Europeans expect leaders to end war, not finance it – survey

The pollsters interviewed 30,000 randomly selected adults between April 26 and June 22, Szazadveg told MTI on Thursday.

According to a recent proposal by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a new funding package of 50 billion euros would be set up from member states’ contributions to support Ukraine in addition to the 83 billion euros disbursed so far, which would cover Ukraine’s expenses until 2027.

“Under the strategy underlying the package, Ukraine must be supported until it defeats Russia. However, as is shown by the time horizon of the proposal, the idea would lead to a prolongation of the war and its reality is highly questionable,” Szazadveg said.

The results of the survey show that only one-fifth of European citizens agree with Brussels’s idea and 72 percent would choose the alternative of bringing the parties to the negotiating table and ending the war immediately.

The position calling for an immediate end to the war has an absolute majority in all member states except Estonia, and the ratio reaches two-thirds in 20 countries. The most pro-peace member states are Hungary with 89 percent, Greece with 87 percent, Malta with 86 percent and Cyprus and Slovenia, each with 85 percent.